Waterloo Road

“ We pass through Waterloo, and leave behind the bright fields of Wellington’s fame,—our army’s future glory and England’s pride. Quatre Bras appears in view; the frightened peasantry come running breathless and panting along the way. We move off to the left of the road, behind a gently rising eminence; form column of companies, regardless of the growing crop, and ascend the rising ground: a beautiful plain appears in view, surrounded with belts of wood, and the main road from Brussels runs through it. ”

“ It is what is known as a "dirt" road, well kept and level, of the sort beloved of horses and horsemen, and it lies close to the stream, between it and the farm lands. At every turn a new and wonderful panorama of green and yellow landscape and azure expanse of water bursts upon the lucky traveler along this blessed highway. Still, being a "dirt" road, when one drives along it at speed there arises in midsummer a slight pillar of dust as the conveyance passes, and one may from a distance note the approach of a possible visitor. ”

“ South-Western Railway has its terminus in the Waterloo Road, which has been placed in connection with the London Bridge Station. The main lines of the company extend to Portsmouth in one direction, Dorchester in another, and Exeter in a third; while there is a multitude of branches—from Wimbledon to Croydon, from Wimbledon to Epsom and Leatherhead, from Wandsworth to Richmond and Windsor, from Barnes to Hounslow, from Staines to Reading, &c. There is no good hotel whatever near the Waterloo or Vauxhall Stations—a defect which seems to need a remedy. ”

“ Those who wish to form a distinct idea of the battle of Waterloo, need only imagine a capital A laid on the ground. The left leg of the A is the Nivelles road, the right one the Genappe road, while the string of the A is the broken way running from Ohain to Braine l'Alleud. ”

“ As we came within a mile of Brussels, the multitude of wretched-looking people was great, as Emma told me, for I was both unwilling and unable to look out. I was so much worn with anxiety that I could scarcely sit up. As we entered Brussels the carriage stopped, and I saw Mr Hay. I durst not speak, but he instantly said, "He is alive. I sent my servant to Waterloo this morning; he is just returned, and Sir William is better than they expected. I have horses standing harnessed, and you will soon be there if the road is passable, though it was not yesterday, for a horse." ”

“ One of the first actions of the Waterloo Council was to agitate for the removal of the toll-bar on the Botany-road from near Redfern-street Redfern, to near the Public School on the Botany-road, whence it was entirely removed a few years ago, and the road thrown open for free.
The borough contains 780 acres and about 25 miles of streets. Waterloo is the only suburban borough which has a system of WOOD-BLOCKED ROADS, constructed without Government aid. When the trams were run along Botany-road, much of the heavy traffic, such as brick-carting, &c,. ”

“ France will be disappointed; and we are amused at the excessive pre-occupation of Frenchmen with this said battle of Waterloo. [Pg 449] It is the ineradicable belief of every Frenchman that we in England are in a perpetual self-swagger about Waterloo. We are prodigal of the word upon omnibus, shop, street, and road, because we wish to humble France at every corner. Waterloo-house is an insult! Waterloo-bridge a defiance! Wellington boots an outrage! Every step you take you trample on the national pride of France, for with "insular arrogance" you walk in boots named of Wellington or of Blucher! ”

“ But the great glory of our river is Waterloo Bridge. This remarkable monument deserved Canova’s praise, who declared that “it was worthy of the Romans.” It is really more a roadway than a bridge, and grandly and loftily is it carried through the air, the approaches being made to suit it, a reversal of the common operation. [10]
This noble structure spans the river with the dignity of an aqueduct. It is really a fine, impressive work, such as could hardly be conceived in our time. There is no graceful bend as in ordinary bridges; it is a stately, straight road carried across the broad river. ”

“ Many of these qualities are in evidence in the days before Waterloo, but during the actual battle upon which his fate and the fate of the world turned, the tired, broken, ill man is drowsily nodding before a farmhouse by the road, while Ney, whose superb and headlong courage was not accompanied by any corresponding military ability, wrecks the last grand army. ”

“ I can hardly express what I felt on returning to England, to see people surrounded with every luxury unhappy at the want of the smallest comfort. I can fancy no better cure for all imaginary evils than a week's residence at Waterloo.
Noise did not disturb Sir William, fortunately, for the cottage was surrounded with roads. (28) One in front led to Nivelles, and every waggon going to and from the army, and all the wounded and prisoners, passed along that road. ”

“ All the villages through which we passed are quite new, and in many places we passed through primitive forests, which, in some places, they are just beginning to clear. At Waterloo the first house was erected in 1816, and at present it has two churches and about three thousand inhabitants. Several of the houses are built of brick, and contain well furnished stores. At the tavern we saw a large, beautiful young eagle, which had been caught in his nest and tamed. The country beyond Waterloo was boggy, and the road in some places made of large logs, so that we were very disagreeably jolted. ”

“ Some turn off from the Elephant (as all the omnibus people call it) and go down the New Kent-road to the Dover railway-station; while others run the same route, but to and from the Nightingale, Lisson-grove, instead of the Eyre Arms. The Waterloos journey from the York and Albany, Regent’s-park, by way of Albany-street, Portland-road, Regent-street, and so over Waterloo-bridge, by the Waterloo, London, and Walworth-roads, to Camberwell-gate. The Waterloo Association have also a branch to Holloway, viâ the Camden Villas. ”

“ Now it must not be imagined that the shallow depression between the ridges stretches of even depth between the two positions taken up by Wellington and Napoleon, with the road cutting its middle; on the contrary, it is bridged, a little to the west of the road, by a “saddle,” a belt of fields very nearly flat, and very nearly as high as each ridge. The eastern half of the depression therefore rises continually, and gets shallower and shallower as it approaches the road from east westward, and the road only cuts off the last dip of it. Then, just west of the road there is the saddle ”

“ We entered the village which has given its name to the most glorious battle ever recorded in the annals of history. It was the Headquarters of the British army on the nights preceding and following the battle. It was here the dispositions for the action were made on Saturday afternoon. It was here on Monday morning the dispatches were written, which perhaps contain the most brief and unassuming account a conqueror ever penned, of the most glorious victory that a conqueror ever won. [22] Waterloo consists of a sort of long, irregular street of whitewashed cottages, through which the road runs. ”

“ The high-road, which runs from Charleroi north through Quatre Bras, Genappe and Waterloo to Brussels, ran between these armies,—that of the Duke of Wellington lying to the westward of the road and that of Marshal Blücher lying to the eastward of it. The Prussians lay considerably closer to the frontier than the English and Dutch. Wellington’s headquarters were at Brussels; 4Blücher’s at Namur. The turnpike, which runs from Namur through Quatre Bras to Nivelles, was the main avenue of communication between these two armies. ”

“ There are no fine trees, but the extent and depth of wood gives it all the effect of a fine one, and an effect particularly suited to the associations connected with it. The road—a narrow pavement in the middle with black mud on each side—looks as if it had never felt a ray of sun, and from its state to-day gave me a good idea of what it must have been. Sometimes the road is raised thro' a deep hollow, and it was not possible to look down without shuddering at the idea of the horses and carriages and men which had been overturned one upon another ”

“ The wood-blocked road cost only 5s per square yard, and has SERVED THE PURPOSE ADMIRABLY. The portion of Botany-street, which was laid down about three years ago, is as good as when new, although the traffic from the brick yards and other factories is very heavy. Ralgan, Cooper, and other streets and lanes have been made in the same way, and nearly all the street crossings in the populated part of the borough are of wood, and are in much better order and cost less to repair than those where stone is used. ”

“ THE FIRST HOTEL was the Waterloo Retreat, built by Thomas Roston on the Alexandria side of Botany-road. This place was bought by Mrs M'Elhinney, who took out a 99 years lease of the grounds, and built a number of cottages. Other hotels are the Sportsman's Arms (said to have been built by Mr Peter Welsh) and the Cauliflower (built by Mr. George Rolfe, who is still in possession, and therefore claims to be the oldest publican in Waterloo) . Charley Keen's Clifton Hotel followed, as an hotel built by Mr. Bunting (formerly of the Beehive Redfern) at the corner of Cooper and Ralgan streets. ”

“ The two made a more careful investigation and discovered that trees led across the road about half a mile to the left, and, although the roads were filled with galloping couriers and many straggling men and small commands, yet they decided that by going to the edge of the wood that touched the road and watching their opportunity they could get across unnoticed. ”

“ On returning leisurely towards Waterloo, about ten o’clock, at a short distance before reaching La Belle-Alliance, he, aided by a clouded moon, descried a group of mounted officers making towards the Genappe high-road from the direction of Frischermont; the Duke turned off to meet them: it proved to be Blücher and his staff; they most heartily congratulated each other on the glorious result of the contest in which they had been so intensely engaged. ”

“ To Waterloo.—Beggars and guides.—The Mound.—Chateau Hougomont.—Victor Hugo's "sunken road."—Antwerp.—A visit to the cathedral.—A drive about the city.—An excursion to Ghent.—The funeral services in the cathedral.—"Poisoned? Ah, poor man!"—The watch-tower.—The Friday-market square.—The nunnery.—Longfellow's pilgrims to "the belfry of Bruges."
WE could not leave the city without driving out to the battle-field of Waterloo. It is about a dozen miles to The Mound, and you may take the public coach if you choose—it runs daily. Our party being large, we preferred to engage a carriage. ”

“ The vast fall of snow in the canyon, drifted, in some places, higher than the top of the smokestack of the locomotive—for this was the greatest blockade in the history of the road—had proved more than baffling, even with the snow-plow. Scores of men were at work ahead of it with shovels, in the work of bringing the clearance within the range of its capability. The relief train was yet many miles from the one entirely helpless. ”

“ To avoid himself, the young man would, at last, go in early evening to the older farmers' homes,—for it was his own country and he knew them all,—and there, with the sons and hired men, pitch quoits in the road before the house.
Quoits is still a game of farmers' sons, and the horseshoe is superior to the quoit of commerce and the town. The open side affords facility for aggressive feats of cleverness in displacing an opponent's cast, and the corks upon the shoes reduce some sliding chances, and the game has quality. And Harlson found rather a distraction in the contests. ”

“ This ridge constituted the position of the First Line of the Duke of Wellington's Army, which Line is more distinctly defined by a road, entering on the east side, from Wavre, by Ohain, and winding along the summit of the ridge until it joins the Charleroi high road just above La Haye Sainte; from which point of junction a cross road proceeds along the remaining portion of the ridge, and thus connects the two high roads with each other. ”

“ Armies must march by roads. At any rate, the army marching by road has a vast advantage over one attempting an advance across country; and the better kept-up the road the greater advantage, other things being equal, has the army using it over another army debarred from its use.
Quatre Bras is the cross-way of two great roads. The first road is that main road from north to south, leading from the frontier and Charleroi to Brussels; along this road, it was Napoleon’s ultimate intention to sweep, and up this road he was on that morning of the 16th sending Ney to clear the way for him. ”

“ On the west side, a road leading from the summit, descends rather rapidly as a hollow way down into and across the long valley that takes its course towards Hougomont, then ascends until it reaches another ridge, along which it winds round that Post, at a distance varying from 300 to about 440 yards, until it joins the Nivelles chaussée; and that winding road indicates pretty nearly the ground occupied by the Left Wing of the French Front Line. ”

“ Of all the troops comprising the Anglo-Allied Army at Waterloo, the most exposed to the fierce onslaught of the French Cavalry and to the continuous cannonade of their Artillery, were the two British Squares posted, during a very great portion of the Battle, in advance—at times, considerably so—of the narrow road which ran along the crest of the Duke's position. They consisted of the 3rd Battalion of the 1st Guards, belonging to Maitland's Brigade; and of the 30th and 73rd Regiments acting together as one Corps, belonging to Halkett's Brigade. ”